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this rearing its head again? Interesting read though, but i doubt there is an elite programme in the world that hasn’t got things to hide, in fact there’s a lot of skeletons in a lot of grass roots clubs as well no doubt.
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Looks like damage limitation from TA.
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By pouring petrol onto a smoldering fire
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Is this the one I said was a bit on the chunky side? I just watched the beginning. Her coach saying she should rip 3:30 no worries…erm…
Yep, she did well losing some weight but she was crying at the start and walking by 10km. She didn’t achieve a single km at her goal pace. She did have a calf go bang apparently but she didn’t do any of it at the pace.
She will never hit a goal IMO until she can control her emotion and ditch the distractions. Look at all the crap she has on, hydro vest and headphones just for a marathon.
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I’m planning to run with headphones on but one of the best things about races is that I don’t have to carry extra stuff like a water vest and gels.
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I’m also someone who runs with headphones ALL of the time. I find it helps and motivates and lifts me in those darker moments. No idea why she has a hydro vest on!
@Jgav I think you might want to carry some gels. I checked yesterday, only 4 on course points at Manchester, unless I suppose you grab a couple at each point I suppose.
I get the headphones thing (I don’t ever wear them) but the vest, the headphones, the sunnies and of course the camera, it all adds up to things that can just get on your nerves.
The cameraman in the b/w shirt behind her is properly fast. The film is worth a watch.
I wear headphones to train, never in a race. She has so many distractions as you say. Just drop all that shit a run faster
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I haven’t run with headphones since my last long training run for Hamburg; so over 2 years.
Just watched the episode where she made her qualifying attempt.
I just wanted to know your thoughts? 
I have a lot of sympathy as someone who failed twice at marathon but from the first tears I couldn’t help thinking of you, and the tears just kept coming, and coming…the episode is a complete blubberfest! Must be your fave ever.
Perhaps they should’ve done the honourable thing and pulled the plug before the start line?
Yeah it wasn’t pretty at all. As I said above, she has gone 3.54 before, I can’t remember where but I know she’s done NYM.
The issue I had with this whole thing was that the excuses started coming quite early.
Back at the start of the year she was not in a good place at all. Lockdown had seen some extra weight come on (she’s not alone there at all though, myself included) but the litany of ‘woe is me, life is very tough’ posts got on my tits.
No kids, no worrying about homeschooling or keeping your job (or getting one), tons of support. I get that anyone can do it tough and she did mentally for sure but she seems to have the fortitude of wet tissue paper.
All that in itself is fine as an individual, we are all different. The thing that I find hypocritical is that she (and the channel) kept pumping about clips about getting faster, what the beginners are doing wrong, mistakes you are making etc and she was making all of these pretty much in full view.
Kate Carter and Andy Badely from the channel are superb runners in every sense and it would have more sense for them to carry the load for a while. There is another ‘journeyman’ on the channel called Rick, he gets a lot of stick because the whole channel seems to be about Anna and her struggles but he’s had a horrible injury but just seems to get on with it.
I did find it strange that two days before this clip came out, there was one called ‘How Not to F**k Up Your Marathon’ which was presented by Rick and Anna. Full of patronising advice.
My first thought was ‘here’s how not to fuck up, don’t announce to the world you’re going to BQ with a 3.30 and walk a 5.11’!
I don’t doubt she had something going with her calf but she 100% started that race in the wrong frame of mind, so anything slightly niggly had a huge potential to be her undoing. Her mindset during her training sessions was not right at all, everything was tough and most of the filmed sessions ended in tears.
I sometimes watch another channel called “Kellogs on the run”, her name is Kelly and she is the wife of ‘The Welsh Runner’ (Matt I think his name is). She also did Berlin with a view to BQ and she also went over 5hrs but she knew exactly why (stomach issues in lead up) and whilst upset, got on with finishing and backed up at London with a ‘nice day out’. Two similar results with two very different mindsets. She has kids and works, no sponsorship as far as I can tell.
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Four minutes in and I’m not sure I can get through this especially as I know the outcome
ETA - 30 seconds into the race and she really doesn’t look like she’s a sub 4hr runner at all
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Meanwhile in 2021, no doubt many women quietly ran a sub 3.30 whilst parenting kids, doing a job and without the assistance of a team of professional advisers. But we live in the age of YouTubers.
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Spoke to a girl after today’s race, I’d say late 20’s\early 30’s. She did 3:19 at London last week and something like 3:14 today.
Clearly talented.
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My training partner who I ran with to 21 miles today finished it off well. It was her first mara and came in 3.30 qualifying for London but just missing BQ
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… winning ultra races and beating all the men too.
I’m headphones a lot. Enjoying slower more chillled stuff at the moment. Downloaded some Simon and Garfunkel last night for running too. Was wondering if I could download some Spanish language stuff onto an MP3 lol… house music does yer head in after a while
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well i skipped through it and it portrays much that is wrong with running culture…
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